London

New York City’s local council has pressed pause on granting new licences to ride-hailing firms for one year, citing Uber and Lyft specifically for its congestion problems.

The package of measures outlined by the city’s mayor Bill de Blasio also includes setting a minimum wage for drivers, after the New York Taxi Workers Alliance said low incomes had been a contributing factor to six suicides among drivers in recent months.

The package, which will implement a 12-month ban on issuing new for-hire vehicle licences excluding those which are wheelchair-accessible, has been vehemently opposed by the major ride-hailing firms operating in New York.

More than 100,000 workers and their families will see an immediate benefit from this legislation. And this action will stop the influx of cars contributing to the congestion grinding our streets to a halt.

Ride-hailing vehicles in New York have soared more than 85 per cent in the last three years, now sitting at around 80,000 compared to just 14,000 yellow cabs.

De Blasio said he intends to sign the measures into law, which will “stop the influx of cars contributing to the congestion grinding our streets to a halt”.

In London, Uber is operating under a renewed 15-month licence granted by Transport for London on the condition that the company has reformed its “gung-ho” attitude to business. It continues to face backlash from taxi drivers.

It offers a full-time, immersive software engineering course that takes place over 15 weeks, as well as two part-time courses: a 10-week front-end web development course and a data science course, alongside the school’s online courses.

Flatiron founders Avi Flombaum and Adam Enbar.

The boot camp says that it arms students with the skills they need to survive modern technology. It also has a careers service which aims to work with its graduates to help them gain jobs in the industry.

The school is offering £1 million in scholarships for women and people from BAME backgrounds to learn how to code.

Housed in WeWork’s Finsbury Pavement location, the launch marks the company’s first international expansion. Speaking about the launch, which comes at the end of London Tech Week. Flombaum said:

“London is an incredible city and there is a giant demand for programmers here…opening Flatiron here was a way to ensure that the tech companies that have started here are going to be able to recruit talent.”

London Tech Week has been taking place this week.

London is seeing a boom in investment in tech start-ups. The UK is Europe’s leading country for global tech investors, with British tech firms attracting more venture capital funding than any other European country in 2017. Therefore further investment in skills and development will position the UK in a strong position for the future.